How to develop a mobile app in 5 steps?

You want to develop an app but you don't know where to start?

1. Make a concept with an initial prototype. You can do so with free tools as https://proto.io/ It will allow you to do a fake app with clickable screens. Non-developers can start using this. It will allow you to start discussions with partners, investors and future customer. Show you proto to potential customers. Try to use the Lean startup methodology.

2. Make a plan. Start doing a business model canvas. Check your weak points and work on it

3. Build a team. You need someone for the art, another for the UX/UI, another for the development (front-end and back-end), a productor, a business person. Try to find a mentor.

Some people are able to take different roles. You can try to associate yourself with those persons or contact a company that will build a complementary team around your own team.

Here are some companies making apps for third persons:

DMI (US, EU, Asia)

Tapptic (EU)

Hello Pomelo (Spain)

Magnet apps (Spain)

Messapps (NY, worldwide)

Try to negotiate a fix fee and a success fee to have them motivated and engaged on the long term with you. If the app is at the center of your business model is better to develop it yourself (associating yourself to developers). It's something difficult as for most of the project the tasks from the developers are heavier than the one of the person with the idea and the marketing.

4. Go for a minimum viable product.

5. Test and iterate. Set up your KPI's (number of downloads, revenue per user, retention,...) and decide to go or not to go further with your project. You can eventually use the results of your test to raise money and bring your app to the next level.

Comments

12 tips for Growth Hackers of apps - The importance of tracking

What is Growth Hacking? It’s no easy to copy a growth strategy. For each project, for each app, there is a different strategy and it’s an art to find the right one. That’s why the growth hacker is born. The Growth Hacker is at the intersections between the latest technologies, analytics of data and marketing. It’s a combination of Network effect and viral marketing. The Growth Hacker can make your app win positions and downloads without having to pay huge quantities of paid advertisings. Here are 12 tips for Growth Hackers: 1. It sounds stupid but like any marketer, you should know what your customers want, what language he speaks and where he is. Write it down and post it on your wall. 2. You should be able to make use of the latest social media tools. You should know about Twitter, facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Linkedin ads, etc.), iconography, Rich snippets and Blogs. You should know how to use them and how to measure your results using them. 3

How to monetize my app?

How to monetize my app? Affiliate sales. You can sell products and services on your app provided by other companies. You can find offers of products through pages like Zanox, CJ, Linkshare,… Mobile commerce. You can do like e-commerce but for a mobile application. However, it’s not easy. Check this article to see how to do it successfully. In-app purchases. This is the most important business model for apps in term of volume. It means that your app is free but you can buy virtual goods inside the app. For example in car game, you can buy petrol. Ad supported. Like a website you can keep space to put banners and widgets of partners. Now you can also run some video inside your app and get a price per video watched inside your app. Data collection . If with your app you collect valuable information about users, their desire, their search you can monetize it. Your app could later be sold to a company interested in this infor

How to survive in Silicon Valley?

Silicon Valley, the place where the money is smart. Silicon Valley is the name of the bay area of San Francisco, north from California. It’s the world most famous place of innovation where companies like Apple, Google, Facebook are located. It’s a place and a model resisting to the crisis and that keep attracting the best start-ups and talents worldwide. Why there? It all started with the University of Stanford and its close collaboration with US ministry of defense. To work with the department of defense allowed companies to benefit from a generous founding and a secure market. Today the Silicon Valley is the perfect mix of three main factors: Knowledge (The University of Stanford and Berkeley are ranked in the 3 best ones worldwide), Money (one third of the world risk capital is located in Silicon Valley) and the proximity to the biggest ICT and biotech companies. Why is the money smarter there than anywhere else? Today start-ups need to think global and to exec

Top blog articles for startup founders

Search This Blog